Brewing on the Horizon
by sineadxrose
Summary: The overbearing storm on the horizon has forced Ichigo to spend the night in the cafe. It just might be the opportunity for Ichigo to finally understand the enigma that is Ryou Shirogane.
1. Chapter 1

**CHAPTER 1: THE STORM**

"You. are. such. an. ass" Ichigo gritted through clenched teeth, face scrunched up into an ugly scowl that did wholly suit her usually cheerful countenance. Her hands were fisted at her sides, and her face was horribly red, induced by the genetic curse of automatically turning various colors due to any emotional upheaval which, at the impromptu moment in time, was caused by the idiotic boy standing in front of her.

Ryou Shirogane stared smugly back at her, knowing just how to press her buttons, and loving it. She hated it. She loathed how _he_ could rile her up. Despised how _she_ could never get him angry. He never got emotional but he knew just what to calmly say to shatter, destroy, or hurt someone. He could rip someone's existence to shreds with that snide tongue of his.

However, on the other case scenario, he was so good with words that he could make someone feel extremely and genuinely significant, as though that person was the center of his universe. Not that he had ever attempted this practice on her of course. Nope, she was usually stuck with being demeaned by his sarcastic words.

And here they were, at it again.

Lovely.

What else was new? Just another row was already in the making.

Ryou cocked his head to the side mockingly "Why are you so angry baka?" His tone was laced with an air of fake innocence while his eyes glimmered deviously.

She glared, vision enhanced with red rage. How did it always get to this point? To the point where she couldn't think clearly, where she couldn't breathe because there was so much charged energy and tension in the room. The café was stifling, hard to breathe, and yet- it was only the two of them.

"I'm leaving" Ichigo exploded finally. She shoved past him in her usual hotheaded manner.

She did not care anymore that it was freaking storming to high heavens out there. That there were continual weather warnings about the brewing storm, thunder, and rain-That a major warning for a hurricane was in session. She did not care about her mother's ringing admonitions of not to leave the café, to stay where it was safe and sheltered even if meant staying the night, alone, with_ him_.

She just did not care.

All she cared about was putting enough distance between her and Ryou. She could not stand one more minute, especially alone, with the jerk.

"What?"

"I'm leaving" Ichigo reiterated.

Ryou scowled in disapproval, "like hell you are. It's a weather hazard out there. I'm not letting you jeopardize your life like that just because you don't want to spend one more second with me"

"Why do you care?" She challenged.

"I don't" he said coolly, without missing a beat. "I just don't want your death on my hands"

_Ouch. _Her ego plummeted. She couldn't pretend that his statement didn't hurt. After all, for one who knew her for many years, were sort of- semi friends, for that one to say to the other that he was impartial to her hypothetical death…well, that was, simply hurtful. And even if said hypothetical death was a joke, what sick fuck joked about their friend's hypothetical death?

Okay, so maybe she was going a little overboard with his comment- after all Ryou had saved her life countless times- but still, Ichigo was nothing if not theatrical and exaggerated.

"Well, don't bother coming to my funeral, since you don't seem to care at all" she snapped back viciously.

"I- " An emblem of guilt flickered in his ice blue eyes, enraging her further. _Good, he should feel guilty. What a heartless statement to say._

He tried to interrupt her but Ichigo wasn't having it. She talked over him "Anyway, I'm not spending another minute with you. So goodbye Ryou. How does it feel that I'd rather face a storm then face you?" She ended sweetly as she marched smartly to the door.

Ryou's gaze darkened, "You are not going anywhere".

He grabbed her arm, his grip firm.

She tugged at her wrist, his grip surprisingly tight around it.

"Let me go" she snarled.

"Like hell I will." Ryou snapped back "crazy idiot"

His grip was strong and she couldn't shake it. Exasperated, Ichigo rolled her eyes. "Let me go Ryou! You don't own me, you can't tell me what to do, you're not the boss of me-"

"Technically I am."

"That doesn't give you authorization over the rest of my life so just let me leave—"

"No. Absolutely not" He snapped.

She looked at him deliberating. He was physically stronger and faster than she, spanning at his towering height of six feet, his body lethal and lean filled with sinewy muscle. Though she had previously been a Mew, her powers had slowly dissipated with time as the war faded into the background.

Even if she got away from his clutches he could easily catch up to her and throw her over his shoulder like a bag of Irish potatoes. Knowing him, he would also lock her in a closet of some sort and leave her there all night to guarantee her safety. She wouldn't put it past him, his audacity, and his control freak syndrome of being a dictator.

As though he was reading her mind, he announced threateningly.

"You know I can stop you if you even try" He looked seriously pissed. His face was flushed pink, blue eyes bright, and his unruly blonde hair more tousled than usual.

She huffed, crossing her arms, and attempted to swallow her pride. She _hated _being told what to do but she couldn't very well march out that door with him holding onto her arm. "Fine" she muttered, jerking at her wrist for him to release her.

Ryou searchingly searched her eyes for a minute, seeing her spark of anger and determination ebb away. Designating her safe enough to think rationally, she supposed, he released his hold.

"Fine" He echoed.

She plopped onto the café's couch with a scowl "I can't believe you're keeping me hostage like this" She muttered, irritated. "You are so extreme"

"Yeah, well, you'd be extreme too if you saw everyone you care for die" He muttered angrily. He always let too much information slip when he was angry. One would get more out of the tip lipped man when he was pissed rather than when he was comfortable. And sure enough, it had happened again. She blinked rapidly at the intensity of his statement.

_You'd be extreme too if you saw everyone you care for die._

Her eyes softened, unconsciously, and pity shaped her almond shaped eyes as she looked at the handsome youth who had faced and shouldered more than one should have to burden. Sometimes it was easy to forget because he was so overconfident, cocky, and overbearing. Yet, he had lost both his parents as a boy; and he had lost Keichiiro, his caretaker and best friend, to an ailing, incurable disease. She winced painfully as she thought of that memory.

Poor Keichiiro.

Poor, poor Keiichiro.

Though three years had passed since his death, she could remember every detail of that horrible, nightmare of a time as though it were yesterday. She recollected feeling utterly helpless as she watched her friend slowly wither into nothing. It was an incurable disease that slowly yet steadily seeped the life out of him. He had become a haggard skeleton of the handsome man he had once been. Her heart thrummed painfully in her chest and she went down memory lane.

Yet, her suffering had been nothing compared to Ryou's. He had looked haunted and horror struck in the coming months. He had paid numerous doctors of the best degrees to fix his friend and even when they had said it was inevitable that Keiichiro would die in a year's time, Ryou would not take their words as truth. Instead he took it upon himself to find the solution. Numerous hours he had spent in his lab alienating himself and attempting to use his intellectual strengths to find a cure yet to no avail. Instead, circles of tiredness developed under his eyes, his weight dropped rapidly, and he became practically mute. Except with Keiichiro, and only with Keiichiro did Ryou make an effort to be positive and fake-optimistic with._ It's going to be fine. You're going to be alright. _Even though everyone knew it was all pretense and lies.

Everyone knew he was not going to be alright. The worst was that Keiichiro himself knew it. One would only have to look in his toffee colored eyes and see the glimmer of hopelessness in his gaze. Unlike Ryou, Keiichiro's face was an open book.

When he died, Ichigo knew Ryou blamed himself.

More guilt and more pain developed in Ryou's heart.

_Guilt over his parent's death._

_Guilt over his ability to save his best friend._

_Guilt over the mew project._

_Guilt over changing the genetic engineering of the five girls to transform into mews._

_Guilt if any one of them got hurt._

Then he would lock all these emotions up in his heart with his mouth tightly closed so as to never speak of it again. Every once in a while his emotions would glimmer in his burning blue eyes before he managed to obscure it once more behind an inscrutable gaze.

_How much guilt could he hold? She had wondered. Why couldn't he just let it go?_

An overwhelming rush of sadness and guilt washed through her, and she sunk into the cafes couch, biting her lip in agitation. The weather of rain, doom, and gloom suddenly reflected her mood perfectly.

Who was she to pester and bother him? Who was she to make his life harder than it already was? It was so easy to forget all his hardships due to his overbearing personality and her own impatient one but she tried to hold onto the wave of compassion she felt for him.

She would do better next time, she vowed silently to herself.

Maybe, leaving him alone would be the best option. At least that would stop them from practically lunging at each other's throats.

She automatically recoiled from the thought, surprised at her own reaction. Bemusedly, she glanced at the blonde boy. The idea of him _not _being a constant presence in her life filled her with anxiety and she shyed away from the idea of it.

Even though they were constantly at each other's throats, they were semi-friends, and she never turned her back on a friend.


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 2**

The rain poured unwaveringly upon the roof, the pattering being both menacing yet soothing in unison. Ichigo had always loved the sound and smell of rain, surprising and ironic- since she was technically instilled with cat genes.

The rain soothed her, putting her in a state of calmness. Her familiar routine would usually consist of curling up with some book, a blanket, and tea. However, this was not simply a mild splat of light rain; instead, the current weather-like symptoms were shockingly frightful, deliberating on the consideration of becoming an actual hurricane.

Her cat ears were consistently popping out in fright at the thundering and wailing of the storm, irritating her to no end. She scowled, trying to calm her erratic heart beating so the furry little contraptions attached to her head would disappear once more. It was typical that the only part of her power she had retained was that of her useless cat ears, the sole memento of her diminished, fading power.

_Damn ears have completely ruined my hair._

She gingerly patted the ruffled pink locks, trying to smooth them, and then gave up with an aggravated huff. It didn't matter if she looked like a pink grizzly bear; she wasn't trying to impress anyone.

It was just Ryou after all.

She peeked at him through the corner of her lashes. The silence had been stifling for the last half hour since neither had breathed a word since their argument.

While it had dawned on Ichigo that Ryou was an overprotective control dictator, she had also realized he had good reason to be. He was a conflicted mess that bottled any emotional expression inside him, through barriers that no one could breach even though she had occasionally poked and prodded at them.

Still the guilt that occasionally proffered inside his ice blue eyes often gave her a glimpse beneath his surface. And today, a half hour ago, it had hit her with a violence.

What kind of person was she? She had wondered. She probably wasn't making his life easier by annoying and pestering him to no end. She was crazy and reckless, and liked the thrill of adventure and danger; things that Ryou most likely feared since so many people around him died.

So a half hour ago, oddly contrite, she had meekly apologized to Ryou. He had looked extremely startled, as though not sure to do with her apology. He had sucked in his breath, swayed on the souls of his feet, and looked at her questioningly.

She had looked away from his penetrating gaze, blushing, and finally mumbled- to quit the silence more than anything- "it was a stupid idea for me to go out in the storm. You're right. I might have got hurt"

Her words were stiff, not because she hadn't been genuine, but because she was not good at giving apologies to the smug faced Shirogane.

"It was a stupid thing to do" He echoed firmly, but there was a glimmer of humor in his eyes as he looked down at her.

And that had been it. End of conversation for the last thirty minutes. While she had fiddled her thumbs awkwardly, he had sat on the couch, opened his book, and read quietly while the storm thundered on, and without an ounce of awkwardness to his name. Apparently she was the only one who found the silence stifling.

An hour later with absolutely no change or movement in the last hour-she was now extremely, deathly, intensely bored.

Ichigo stared at the ceiling, she chewed her lip, and she changed positions every ten seconds with a sigh. She marveled at how still Ryou could stay- practically a statue.

She tried to be a statue but she lost interest after a few minutes.

"Hey Ryou?" She chirruped finally, for her personality was not one of that could remain quiet. _Honestly, he should be thanking me for saying quiet as long as I have!_ Ichigo thought.

"Mm?" He hummed, barely acknowledging her.

She rolled her eyes; it was hard to draw Ryou out of his own world and secluded corner but she was determined to do it. After all, at the moment, she had absolutely nothing better to do. She was going to take him out of his book, talk to him, and _understand _him. She was going to psychoanalyze him.

Who knew? Maybe they could gossip, have a lovely chat, or something along those lines. The idea sounded better by the second.

She strolled casually over to him, until she was looking at the top of his ruffled blonde head. He didn't look up.

"How's the book?"

"I'll let you know when I finish it" He said, eyes not leaving the page.

"Ryouuuuu" She whined as he remained unresponsive. She stepped closer and suddenly inspiration hit her. Knowing his pet peeve was having people mess with his hair, she ran a hand rakishly through his blonde locks.

That appeared to get his attention. He glared up at her.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Getting your attention" She smirked.

"And you have it now. So what can I do for you?" He paused and then smirked, giving her appearance the once over. It left her feeling strangely warm but she didn't know why.

"Perhaps I can lend you a hairbrush?" he drawled, raising an eyebrow.

She smiled innocently and replied "I think you're the one in need of a hairbrush"

Before he could respond, she attacked his groomed blonde hair with abandon.

"Hey!" he protested. "You little-"

But she was undeterred. Her hands were in a frenzy as she reduced his hair to that of a haystack. It looked ten times worse than her own now. When she looked at her final product, she burst out laughing.

"You look-, she snorted breathless with laughter, you look-ridiculous-like a, like some-wild animal" She howled.

He slammed his book and she smiled between chortles for she had achieved her goal. Take away the book from Ryou: Check.

She shrieked as he grabbed her around the waist, tugging her down. And then his hands were messing up her already messed up hair. And she was laughing breathlessly. And he was laughing with her. It was such a moment of light hearted fun in the minute of all the doom and gloom, giving sunshine and breath of fresh air into the bleak outlook of their days.

"Okay! Okay, Truce!" She giggled. He had her in a playful headlock and he mockingly pretended to think.

"I don't know. I think I should give you a few more minutes of hell. Let's see if I can transform your cotton candy hair into a bird's nest. I've been told that I'm quite artistic"

"RYOU!"

"ICHIGO!" He countered, but he relinquished her with amusement. She hopped away from the entrapment of his arms, brushing herself off in the process.

"You won this round"

"I win every round"

"Don't be so sure" She warned.

"Oh yeah?" His blue eyes were scorching and she felt like he wasn't talking about their game point in the end when he said "I'll win. I'll get what I want in the end"

The brightness and heat of his eyes was the last thing she saw when the cackling boom of the thunder suddenly cut off the electricity and shrouded the whole café into darkness.


End file.
